Like A Handprint On My Heart
by purpledragon6
Summary: A list of brotherly love related drabbles for our favorite Hamada brothers ranging from the movie to fluffy AUs. Chapter six: The gang finds themselves snowed in at the lab and attempt to have a very Merry Christmas from there.
1. Tadashi Is Here

**A/N: Welcome to chapter one of my drabble song series for the awesome movie that is Big Hero 6! This chapter's song is by Faith Hill and is her song'There You Will Be'****. **

**Anyhow, Big Hero 6 was such a good movie that I ended up crying 5 minutes before the movie actually began and since I never cry, it scared the living daylights out of my twin. Back to the point, I decided to write this story the moment I heard the line that opens this story. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! **

* * *

><p>"Tadashi is here." An increase in the boy's heart rate was detected in reaction to this statement, and Baymax's first instinct as always was to check for a possible solution to this.<p>

"Tadashi is here." The robot repeated once more, as if hoping that if he repeated this enough times then the boy would calm down.

After a piece, Hiro took in a deep and shaky breath and let it out again suddenly, and for a moment his heart rate began to return to normal. Once his heart rate fell into its normal pattern, the robot began taking a few steps towards the boy in front of him, holding out his marshmallow like hand with the intentions to attempt to comfort the boy with a hug. Before he could however, the human looked up at him and spoke in a bitter and cold tone.

"Tadashi is gone..." The boy spat at him, running his hands down his tired face as a hopeless look over took his almond eyes.

A tense quiet between the two followed this statement, though a million loud thoughts ran through both of their heads. For Hiro, they were both sad and happy thoughts of his beloved brother, the one who was the topic of this 'conversation' between human and robot. For said robot, his 'thoughts' were scannings of his surroundings, as well as that one sentence he had repeated twice now verbally.

_'Tadashi is here. He is still present here in this room.' _He thought as his robotic eyes scanned the area a few times over and finally landed on the divider wall that concealed the older brother's side of the room. _'Tadashi's living space and personal belongings are still in this room. His research notes and thoughts are beyond that wall as well. Surely Hiro knows this as well. Why would he say that he is not here?' _

His eyes returned down to Hiro, who was still staring up at him as a certain pain fill his golden brown eyes... They were the same eyes that Tadashi had... And they carried a look of pain that Baymax was in fact familiar with. It wasn't a physical pain that the robot could pick up on his scanners, but it was one that anyone, robots included, were capable of seeing upon first glance. He was also able to see the way the boy clenched his fists tightly in reaction to this pain, and by now Baymax had figured that it was a way of somehow dulling or at least dealing with the pain. Out of a reaction in his programing, the marshmallow shaped robot took a step closer to the human boy, stopping only when one of the boy's fists suddenly unclenched and tossed itself up in his dark black hair and tangled itself in the locks. Baymax had seen this same action several times before when the boy's older brother would get frustrated or tired during his earlier tests...

"He is here." Baymax could see his creator now, standing right there in the room with the two now.

"Tadashi is dead..." The younger brother sounded deflated now, slowly sinking to his knees and burying his face in his hands as he faught against the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. "And I couldn't do anything to save him..."

That had been the statement that made Baymax see everything clearly now. Tadashi was still here, and he could see him now. He saw his thoughts in the notes still scattered about his bedroom desk, he saw him behind the wall, in the divided bedroom through the personal belongings that had been left behind by him. The older brother was still there in the photos he kept of him and his family during happier days... Even through his legacy at the college and his want to help people seemed to be present somehow. Yes, that was also present...

Looking at Hiro once more, Baymax finally was close enough to pull him into a hug. He pulled the smaller one close to him, and held him there in an awkward little hug, silently listening to the sounds of the boy's broken sobs against his plastic skin.

"Your brother is here..." He lowered in voice to a whisper and ran his hand through Hiro's hair gently.

"H-how...?" His voice shook, looking up at the robot's odd face with tear filled eyes.

"I can see him here... In this room..." With a final swipe, he looked down at Hiro again, who was now looking both confused and hopeful. "I can see your brother in you..."


	2. 1000 Paper Cranes

**A/N: Usually I don't update a story unless I've written 1000+ words, but the other day I was messing around on my laptop and saw that my sister was looking up origami and I remembered this little folk-lore I read about a few years ago and wrote this short poem for the brothers of Big Hero 6.**

**The folk-lore, for those who don't know it, basically stated that if you fold 1000 paper cranes then you will get one wish. In this poem, Hiro attempts to make 1000 paper birds in order to wish for his older brother back.**

* * *

><p><em>'They say it takes 1000 paper cranes,<em>_  
><em>

_1000 paper birds in exchange for one wish. _

_One made each hour, and 100 a day._

_Ten days left, to wish you back, alive and okay. _

_1000 paper cranes, with the paper wrinkled and torn. _

_Unsteady hands, to shaky to complete the first fold- _

_It was always you who would fold them, when smaller hands could not. _

_There is only room for one wish now, and since that ones for you, _

_The folding skill can't be wished for. _

_But I will learn how to in real time... _

_If thats what I must do-_

_One crane is fold, then placed in a glass nest. _

_999 more to follow, and then hands can rest,_

_For though it is many until this goal is met,_

_You may not know it yet..._

_...But I'm not giving up on you yet..._


	3. Tadashi and Abby

**A/N: OKAY! Entering into the AU brotherly fluff section of this story because I went to the Disney store the other day with my twin sister and I read this book about the two brothers and I felt really upset that Tadashi is dead so I decided to write this for the fun of it. I've got my tumblr full of pepsi and nothing else to do today so heres an update XD **

**Summary: Alive AU Ending: Hiro visits some very important people in the hospital with a different reaction towards both.**

* * *

><p><em>Beep... Beep... Beep.<em>

Dark eyes flashed opened, and Abigail was greeted by a sudden flash of golden light. However, this light was not as bad as the ones that had nearly blinded her earlier, but it still stung when her eyes first opened. Much to her relief, her eyes quickly adjusted to the light and she was soon able to see shapes now, and soon her vision was clear enough that she could see most of her hospital room.

"Baymax! Shes awake!" A young boy's voice called out from her left side.

"W-what?" Abigail gasped as she turned her head suddenly and was met with a marshmallow like being staring back at her. "W-wait... B-Baymax?"

She had heard that name before at the university that her father worked at. One of the students there , who she could not put a name to just yet, would always buzz on and on about that name whenever she came by to visit.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Bepp._

"Her heart rate is increasing rapidly." The marshmallow noted, standing up a little straighter now.

"W-what- Wh-who?" Abigail gasped, placing a hand to her chest in an attempt to calm herself.

"Oh, thats Baymax. Hes an inflatable nurse basically." The same young boy's voice from before was heard, but the robot was blocking him from Abigail's view.

"W-where am I?" She asked next, feeling her heart begin to settle.

"You are in a hospital in SanFransokyo. You have been in unconcious for several weeks now." The robot informed her, his tone never wavering. "How do you feel?"

"I-I'm confused... W-what happened?" She asked, running her fingers through her dirty hair slowly.

"You mean you don't remember?" The young boy's voice cut through the air quickly.

"N-no... Nothing by being taken to the hospital... Thats all..." She muttered, sinking into her pillows slowly feeling as if a heavy weight was steadily lowering itself onto her body.

"Abby, you were in an accident when you flew into a portal as part of Project: Silent Sparrow." Baymax explained, taking the corners of the hospital bed's blanket and gently pulling it up to the woman's chin. "But you are safe now."

"Silent Sparrow... I... I think I remember that." Abigail sighed, snuggling back into the blanket, only to spring up quickly in sudden thought. "M-my father was there! W-where is he now!?"

"Um... Yeah, about that..." This time it had been the boy to reply to her, and she quickly attempted to look over the robots body to see his face.

He only looked to be about 13 years of age, with mess black hair and golden brown, almond-shaped eyes. His skin was pale, as if he hadn't gone outside in a while, and the skin under his eyes was purple from lack of sleep. He looked so familiar to her, and yet she couldn't put a name to face, or at least she couldn't put a correct name to this face. Without thinking, she could hear herself blurt it out.

"T-Tadashi!?" She gasped, unable to put a proper name to the face.

The young boy looked as if he had been struck by an invisible hand, taking a step back as his eyes widened. Abigail gasped, panic rising once more in her chest in reaction to the boy's actions. It took a few moments but the boy finally regained his composure and was able to look her in the eyes again.

"Abby, my name is Hiro Hamada... My older brother is Tadashi Hamada..." The young boy explained in a gentle tone, taking in a deep breath. "There was an accident at the university my brother went to a while back and your father..."

"He isn't..." Tears pricked the woman's eyes as she brought her hands up to cover her mouth, fearing to hear the worst.

A coldness suddenly took over the boy's once warm eyes, and his tone of voice when he spoke next was just as chilling as his glare, though it was obvious that he had not meant for either of those things to be present at that moment. Fear and confusion overtook the young woman as she began to mentally prepare herself for anything he could say next. However, nothing would prepare her for what she was about to hear...

"No... He isn't. Your father is in prison Abby..." Hiro's voice was just as cold as his face when he spoke, walking slowly over to the foot of the woman's bed.

"P-prison?" The woman's bottom lip trembled as she attempted to speak clearly. "B-but ho-"

"1 charge of murder, two charges of attempted murder, two charges of left, and two counts of destruction of public property and aggravated assault." Hiro listed off the charges as if he had memorized them all before entering the hospital earlier that day. "He did it all for you though."

Abigail's mouth hung open from shock as she attempted to register all of this information at once. Hiro frowned and reached out suddenly to pat her hand gently in an attempt to calm her down.

"I'm sorry, Abby... But you should get some more rest." He tried to let some warmth enter his tone as he reached over to the bedside table where a vase was and plucked one of the flowers out of it. "I'll come and visit you again later if you want.

"T-thank you..." Abby muttered dryly, feeling some what appreciative of the boy's kindness.

He smiled softly and nodded before heading towards the door, beckoning the robot to come with him as he did so. Abby sighed heavily as she watched him leave, but a thought suddenly came to her and she called out to him suddenly.

"Hiro, wait!" She called, sitting up just a little bit. "Your brother... W-what happened to him?"

Hiro stopped and turned to her, the faint ghost of a smile evidant on his lips as he twirled the flower between his fingers a few times and then smiled a little wider. Looking back at the still closed door, he reached out to the door knob and twisted it until the door clicked opened.

"Oh... Hes fine. Well, not fine but hes getting better." Hiro pushed the door open slowly and stepped out into the hallway. "I'm actually going to visit him now. Hes in the next room over."

With that, the boy and the robot left the room and Baymax shut the door behind them as they crossed to the next room and pushed open the door. All coldness that was present in Hiro before had suddenly melted away at the sight of his older brother, who despite being wrapped up in heavy bandages was still alive and good natured. When Hiro entered he found his brother sitting up right and on the phone, laughing softly about something that had been said during the phone conversation.

"Okay, Fred. I'll see it when I get back. Bye." Tadashi concluded the conversation quickly and hung up the phone, turning to face his brother now. "Hey, bonehead."

"Hey, bro." The little brother laughed, rushing over to the bedside and tossing the flower he had earlier onto the bedside table. "Hows it going?"

"Better, but it sounds like a mess down at the new lab. Fred mentioned something about a lizard suit- Or something like that-" He wrinkled his nose at the thought, but Hiro was quick to laugh it off.

"Fred is still as lively as well ever." He laughed, shaking his head slowly and smiling a little wider. "Who ever knows what hes talking about?"

"Usually only Fred himself, thats who." The older of the two brother's smiled, looking over at the robot suddenly and just now noticing that he had walked in. "Hey, Baymax."

"Hello, Tadashi." The robot greeted in his monotone voice, shuffling over to the bedside and looking the other over. "Scan completed: Your burns have begun to heal a great deal since we last visited."

"Baymax, you didn't have to scan him." Hiro laughed, patting the robot's hand. "Come on, we're just visiting this time."

"Very well." Baymax went to a nearby chair and attempted to sit in it, letting out a bit of air so that he could fit and 'visit'.

"There ya go." Hiro smiled, sitting up on his brother's bedside. "Now lets find something to talk about."

"The guys?" Tadashi offered, smiling softly at his two brothers as he sat up a little straighter. "How are they doing?"

"Pretty good. They said they were sorry for not visiting, but classes started back up and the new professor is a bit pushy." Hiro explained, poking at his brother's bandaged hand a few times. "Do you feel any of this?"

"No, and why haven't you started? I thought you said classes started already." Disappointment over took the older brother's tone as he frowned at Hiro. "Don't tell me you're not going. We worked so hard just to get you in."

"Relax. I'm just taking some time off to help out with you and Aunt Cass. I'll start when you do." With a roll of the eyes, he slowly took his hand back.

"Hiro, you realize that will be a while, right?" Tadashi said, reaching out his hand and placing it over his brother's hand gently, only to have Baymax hold up his hand to speak. "Yes, Baymax?"

"At the rate of your healing, this may be two years." The bot informed the two, placing his hand onto his 'lap' again after speaking.

"You're not helping." Hiro rolled his eyes, but still smirked anyhow. "Bottom line is, I'll start whenever you do."

"Then I'll have to start sooner." Tadashi laughed, reaching up and ruffling his brother's hair.

"Like Aunt Cass will let you! She'd glue you to a tree before she'd let you start classes in your shape." A gentle shove sent Hiro to the floor in a fit of giggles.

"Don't remind me. She wouldn't even let me sit up the first few times she visited." Tadashi rolled his eyes, shutting them for a few seconds once his irises reached the top of his head.

"For good reason, though. Three broken ribs and third degree burns all over the left side of your body? I don't blame her." Hiro said in a matter-of-fact way, getting off of the floor and taking his spot back on the bed. "When are you coming home anyway?"

"If you hand me my chart then I can tell you." A quick pass off was made a few seconds later. "Apparently two weeks from now."

"Finally! I sort of missed having a roommate." A collective laugh was gathered by the trio at that comment.

"What about Baymax? Isn't he sort of like a roommate." The older brother asked in a good hearted way.

"Sorta, but he wouldn't let me mess up your room." The other shrugged, casting the robot a soft smile as he did so.

"I don't even let you mess up my room." Tadashi shot back, shoving his little brother once more. "You better not have touched my stuff."

"I never said I did... In your room, that is." Hiro's eyes quickly darted to the clock. "Oh, look at that. Visiting hours are over! Gotta go, love ya bro!"

With that, he quickly jumped off of the bed, taking Baymax's hand and quickly dragging him towards the door as Tadashi sat bolt right up, wincing a bit in pain as he watched his brother run.

"Hiro! You better not have touched my lab!" He shouted in the boy's direction, watching as the boy shot him an apologetic glance. "You did, didn't you!?"

"See you tomorrow! I'm not answering any more questions until then!"

With that, the boy laughed loudly, hearing his brother still calling for him as he turned the corner and took off down the hall.


	4. Rule 1 Of Being A Hamada Brother

**A/N: Chapter Four: Crack and pure conversation. See if you can guess which brother is saying what line. I am really not in my fluffy mojo right now so I thought that this would be a bit of humor for the time being until I get it back. This is purely meant to be funny. **

**So, on a random note, I found the book at my local Disney store and I thought it was so funny when they put rockets on the cat! I was about to get it but it cost $20 so I put it back XD It was super cute and really funny so I high suggest that you guys check it out if you haven't yet.**

* * *

><p>There are many rules for being a Hamada brother. No one knows this though, because one of the rules clearly states that only brothers get to know about the rules. There is also one another rule dealing with secrecy that both brothers respect, mainly out of fear of the other breaking it. That rule was a plain and simple one that went a little something along the lines of: <strong>If its said in confidence, don't tell<strong> **anyone! **The **Anyone **part of this rule was usually triple underlined with a skull and cross-bones next to it, because some of the things that a Hamada brother knew was something that could be fatal if put into the wrong hands. Aunt Cass's hands, for example, would be pure suicide if she found out anything.

With this rule in set into place, the two brothers quickly became the keeper of each other's most secret of secrets, as well as the blade pointed at the other's neck when ever the situation they were in called for it, such as the one that the boys now found themselves in. Neither were sure exactly how this whole thing begin, but they did know that their aunt's beloved cat was now stuck to the ceiling of the café by a substance that could only be described as something you might find in a science fiction lab. As the two brother's looked between each other and then up at the cat, the mounting tension between the two quickly lead to the start of a rather odd conversation.

"You can not tell Aunt Cass about this!"

"Why not? She'll find out sooner or later."

"She'll kill me with her bare hands though!"

"But she'll kill me too if I don't tell her! I'll be your partner in crime!"

"Which is different from any other day, how- Anyway, you still can't tell her!"

"Better she kill just you and not both of us. I'll miss you greatly though."

"Hey! This is serious! Don't joke about something like this!"

"Yeah, its so dead serious, you know?"

"Stop that! You can't do this to me!"

"Just watch me."

"W-wait! Hold up a second!"

"Hm? Careful, anything you say can and will be held against you in the court of Cass."

"If you tell Aunt Cass, then I'll tell everyone about how you still sometimes wet the bed."

"You wouldn't dare! Thats a secret that I trusted only you with!"

"Oh, but would I, Mr. Still-wears-pull ups?"

"Fine, but if you tell everyone that, then I'll squeal about how you sing broadway musical songs in the shower!"

"I thought I was alone! You can't tell anyone about that!"

"Try to top that one, bro. I honestly dare you."

"Hey, you remember that time you cried for a half an hour while watching Bambi because you thought it was 'so beautiful'?"

"S-shut up! I was having a bad day that time, okay?... And what about when you cried for three hours when we went to see santa in the mall when we were little?"

"Um news flash, idiot, That was still you."

"Oh yeah... Its still not as bad as that time you pissed your pants while you were in high school and Aunt Cass had to come pick you up because you refused to leave the nurse's office."

"How do you remember that!? You weren't even home when it happened."

"I have my ways."

"Well then I'll just have to tell everyone about that time you tried riding a shopping cart down the side of a hill and ended up getting seven stitches in your face."

"I was doing research! And what about that time you ran into a stop sign and I got the only picture of it?"

"You told me you burned that one, you jerk!"

"Well, I lied. Now you have one more chance to top that secret before I go to find Aunt Cass and tell her about what you did to her beloved cat."

"If you tell Aunt Cass about the cat, then I'll... I'll tell everyone your middle name!"

"..."

"..."

"... Fine. I won't tell Aunt Cass, but you still have to get the cat off of the ceiling before she gets home!"

"And you have to keep your mouth shut about that last one or I'll never speak to you again!"

"No promises. I'll just keep this incident locked away in my memory until I need to use it again."

"You're such a jerk!"

"Hey, its not my fault that we have that rule."

"You are the one that came up with that one."

"Shut up. Aunt Cass is going to be home soon so you better get cleaning while I go and find a ladder."

"Fine. But not a word of this, got it?"

"Got it. Crystal clear... Pinky promise, I will not tell a soul as long as you don't."

"Deal. Now go get the ladder so we can get the cat down."

"Fine, if we hurry then we should be able to get most of the café in order before she gets back!"


	5. I Triple Dog Dare You

**A/N: Chapter Five: This is purely meant to be funny... Again XD I got the idea from a challenge my twin did the other day and it was just to funny to pass up XD**

**Chapter Summary: When Aunt Cass grounds the boys to their rooms, they pass the time by having a dare contest. First person to chicken out looses!**

* * *

><p><strong>I Triple Dog Dare You:<strong>

If any of his friends asked him what happened, then Tadashi would have said that everything was his little brother's fault. If anyone asked Hiro what had happened, then he would probably agree with what his brother had said, only he would have added in his own shit eating grin when admitting to it. Either way, both boys found themselves in trouble that day, and both were now grounded to their sides of the rooms for the rest of the weekend by Aunt Cass, who had somehow figured out that the boys had gotten her cat stuck to the ceiling while she was out. Needless to say, she was not at all happy.

"Hiro, this is all your fault..." The older of the two siblings muttered, groaning softly at the thought of all of the valuable lab time he was currently missing since he was grounded.

"Yeah, pretty much." Hiro chuckled, idly spinning himself in his swivel chair as he spoke.

"Its because of you that we're grounded off of everything!" Tadashi added, getting up suddenly from his bed and going to his little brother. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"Nope. Cept that it was funny and well worth it." Hiro replied, pouting suddenly when his brother stopped his chair from spinning.

"I'm missing time in my lab because of you! And wasting even more of my time stuck in this room with you." Getting Hiro to feel guilty for his actions was not a strong trait of Tadashi, but he was willing to try.

"Then lets do something so we're not wasting time." Hiro suggested, suddenly jumping off of the chair and turning to face his brother.

"Like what? All of my projects are at the l-" He was cut off suddenly by a wave of Hiro's hand.

"Not that kind of something. I was thinking something more along the lines of a game." Hiro laughed, going over to his bed where he kept his lock box full of the money he won from his bot fights. "And to make things more interesting, lets say you and me bet some money on this?"

"That depends on what game it is." Tadashi frowned and folded his arms over his chest, the mature side of him not wanting to take part in a money bet, but the older brother side of him thinking that the money could be of help for later on.

"How about a dare contest?" The little brother wiggled his eyebrows idly, taking out a couple of bills from his box and waving them about near his brother. "It gives you a chance to get back at me for the whole grounded thing."

Tadashi stopped, thinking for quite a bit on if he should agree to this or not. On one hand, he could get back at his little brother and end up getting a nice amount of cash out of it, but on the other hand, Hiro could dare him to do something so horrible that he would end up loosing money. Still, he did like the sound of that first part, so with a nod, he hit his pockets and took out his own amount of money and held out his free hand to shake on it.

"Deal. First person to crack looses." With that, Hiro accepted the shake and the game officially began.

The money was quickly collected into one pile and put between the two brother's as they sat cross legged on the floor and began to think up their first dare for each other. Once ready, they gave each other a nod and Tadashi opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Hiro once more.

"Hey, why do you get to go first?" Hiro pouted, clearly not liking that idea.

"Because I'm older and I want to get back at you." Tadashi replied, frowning at being interrupted.

"I think we should flip a coin, you know, just to be fair." Hiro suggested, about to reach for a piece on top of their money pile, only to have his hand stopped by Tadashi.

"Maybe we should use a different coin. Just so you don't end up stealing it from our pile." He smirked, noticing his brother tensing up from the accusation.

"What? I would never do something so underhanded. I just want to be fa- Okay fine, why don't we just do rock, paper, scissors?" Hiro muttered, balling his hand up into a fist to begin.

The short game ended in Tadashi: 1 and Hiro: 0. With the starter decided, Tadashi smirked and looked slowly around the room for something he could use for a dare. Meanwhile, Hiro was trying not to pass out from lack of air as he held his breath in anticipation.

"I dare you too- drink that half bottle of orange juice on your desk." Tadashi smirked idly, and continued to smirk even as his brother cracked up.

"Thats it? Drink orange juice? Easy." With that, Hiro stood up quickly and went to retrieve the bottle, not noticing the expiration date on the side of the bottle.

He took just one sip of the drink without thinking, his face suddenly paling as he did so, and flinging the drink quickly away from his person as he began to cough and sputter violently from his gag reflexes attempting to keep the drink out of his system. It had definitely gone bad, probably weeks before the game actually began and Hiro just hadn't noticed until this very moment. Tadashi by now was on the floor, laughing his arse off at his brother's reaction.

"Gah! Okay, now its my turn!" Hiro choked out as he spit into his wastepaper been in an attempt to get the taste out of his mouth. "I dare you too lick the sponge in our bathroom!"

"Ha! Which one?" Tadashi stopped laughing instantly, realizing that he probably shouldn't have asked this.

"The one we use for the toilet." Hiro replied with a smirk playing on his lips. "And you have to lick it from one side to the other."

"Hiro, there is no way I am doing that." Tadashi muttered, getting up quickly and folding his arms.

"Then you loose the game." Hiro reminded him, about to collect the money on the floor.

"Wait! Okay, I'll do it..." Tadashi sighed, going to the bathroom to get the sponge.

Unlike Hiro, he hesitated to complete his dare, closing his eyes whenever he attempted to do it. Meanwhile, Hiro watched with a bright grin on his face, and soon exploded into a fit of giggles when his brother actually licked the sponge and then dropped it as if it had burned him. With a sound of disgust, Tadashi rushed to the bathroom and washed his mouth out with any kind of toothpaste and mouthwash he could find. When this was done, he returned to his brother with another dare.

"I dare you to do the rest of this game with a wet towel on your shoulders." He replied, tossing an already soaking towel at his little brother as he did so. "I've taken the liberty of preparing this one while I was in the bathroom.

"Tadashi! This one is freezing!" Hiro whined as he put the towel on his shoulders and already felt his skin beginning to freeze.

"I am aware of that." Tadashi replied, taking his place back on the floor. "And now its your turn."

"I dare you to wear your hat for the rest of the game." Hiro said, only then to quickly add. "Covered in Icy Hot."

Determined to win, Tadashi pour Icy Hot on the inside of his beloved hat and plopped it onto his head without a problem. Now the games had really begun, and each brother took on a poker face as the dares began to rain down on both of them.

"I dare you to stand on your head for the rest of the game." In an instant, Hiro was on his head with the towel still on his shoulders.

"I dare you to climb the TV antenna." Of course, since they were still grounded to their rooms Tadashi couldn't do this one and they had to think of a new one. "I dare you to stand on your head also then."

"Piece of cake." Tadashi smirked and stood on his own head with little ease because of his hat, which was now beginning to burn his head. "I dare you to close my sliding door while still on your head."

"Now thats just cruel!" Hiro gasped, feeling pressure on his face from the head stand as he attempted to walk over to the door on his hands and close it, which he eventually did. "I dare you to slap yourself across the face!"

"Well I dare you to hop on one hand for the rest of the game." Tadashi challenged, slapping himself once and smirking as his brother attempted to do the challenge.

Hiro grunted in pain as he began to feel dizzy from the blood rushing to his head and the pressure of all of his weight being placed on his hand. With a deep breath, he had to make this last dare count or else he would surely lose this battle of dares. Looking up at his brother, he smirked as he thought of the most perfect dare to end all dares.

"I dare you to sing everything you say for the rest of the game."

Tadashi paled, and not because of being on his head. Slowly, he curled his knees up to his chest and rolled right ways up and turned to his little brother with a rather annoyed expression on his face. Taking off his hat, he admitted defeat by tossing it aside and getting up from his spot on the floor, watching as Hiro sighed in relief and dramatically fell to the floor before groaning in pain.

"You know I don't sing." He muttered, picking up the towel from his little brother and beginning to wipe the Icy Hot out of his hair.

"I know you don't." Hiro cracked up, getting up to gather his spoils. "Except when you think that you're alone."

"Shut it." Tadashi muttered, even as a chuckle escaped his lips. "Whats told in confidence can't be told to anyone, remember?"

"Right, but since you didn't tell me that you licked a toilet sponge, I will be telling all of your friends about it." Hiro smirked, stuffing the money in his jacket and rushing towards the bedroom door as his brother jumped at him.

"You wouldn't dare!" Tadashi yelped, pulling himself off of the floor as he got up and attempted to go after his little brother.

"I did dare, and I won because of it!"

Hiro laughed until he was red in the face as he rushed out of the room, knowing that his brother was to much of a good nephew to break his punishment early, and actually leave the room.


	6. Merry Christmas

**A/N: ITS CHRISTMAS! **

**Chapter Summary: The gang finds themselves snowed in at the lab and attempt to have a very Merry Christmas from there.**

* * *

><p>White flurries of snow fluttered against the window panes of the lab like mad, each one smacking the window hard before tumbling down to join its many other friends on the ground. There was so much there already, and at the rate the snow was falling, the whole world looked white beyond the window. From inside, seven teenagers and their robot watched the maddness before sighing sadly. It was the holiday season, and while most of them wanted to be at home with their families, they instead found themselves trapped inside their school as a blizzard raged outside.<p>

"Well, this sucks..." Go-Go muttered, tightening her grip on her leather jacket as she watched the snow with a bitter look in her eyes. "Its Christmas vacation and we're stuck in the school... How ironic."

"I was supposed to visit my nana today," Wasabi began, going to the window and pressing his hand against the glass. "I won't be able to if this snow doesn't die down..."

"According to the weather station-" Honey Lemon started to speak, but then stopped and looked sadly at her phone's screen for a moment. "That won't be until six tomorrow morning."

"SIX IN THE MORNING!?" Hiro's usually tan face paled, his eyes filled with the impatience that was normal for a child at that age.

"Hiro, calm down." The older Hamada brother scolded, reaching into his pocket and taking out his phone. "I'm going to call Aunt Cass and tell her where we are, okay?"

"We'll be dead before that comes!" Hiro added, grabbing at his raven locks as his older brother rolled his eyes and quickly left the room to make his call.

"Chill, kid. Thats only twelve hours away." Go-Go spat suddenly, already annoyed with the boy's whining. "Then we can all go home and be unhappy there."

With a sudden pout, the dark haired girl tossed her jacket onto a nearby table and walked over to her own side of the room so that she could sit. With nothing else better to do, everyone watched her as she walked, and then soon followed her example and took their own corners of the room. All except for Honey Lemon, who stood with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. To her, the happiest time of year shouldn't be spent in a cold lab with unhappy friends, so instantly the gears in her brain began to turn as she attempted to think of something to do.

"Come on you guys! We can still celebrate the holidays here." Honey chirped, trying to spread her holiday cheer to everyone in the room.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Go-Go muttered bitterly, quickly blowing a piece of her colored hair out of her eyes so she could glare at the peppy girl. "This isn't like in the movies where everything magically works out and santa shows up, you know?"

"I'm well aware of that." The blonde replied, trying to keep up her cheerful voice as she shuffled to the corner of the room and pulled her female friend up by her arm. "Now is anyody with me?"

The remaining males of the group were quiet for a moment, all three of them thinking over what Honey was proposing here. They could just sit around and mope like they were currently doing- Or they could attempt to celebrate the holidays with their closests friends and hopefully help the time move a little faster before they could leave and be with their families. After a moment more of thought, the youngest male stood up and crossed over to the center of the room.

"I'm with you, Honey." He said with a half-hearted shrug. "It beats sitting around and doing nothing."

"Then I'm in as well." Wasabi smiled, only to look over at Fred, who was passed out on his chair and apparently had not been awake this entire time. 'If he were awake, I think he'd be with us as well."

"Then its settled! Come on, Go-Go, you and Hiro can help me get my stuff from my locker." The blonde smiled, happily pulling her friends to the door way just as Tadashi returned to the room.

"Where are you three going?" He asked, looking at the trio in confusion before letting his eyes land on his little brother.

"We're going to save Christmas apparently." Hiro smirked, clinging now to Honey's arm and allowing himself to be dragged out of the room by the blonde. "You're welcome to join us if you like!"

With a simple shrug, the older brother turned around on his heels and followed his friends and little brother out of the room and into the hallway. He didn't really want to help, mainly because he didn't know what he was going to be helping with, but it was also due to this curiosity that he was following the group anyway and soon himself at Honey's locker with the others. Upon arriving at the locket, the tallest girl began to twist the lock and put in her combination.

"Every year, my family and I help out at local soup kitchens on Christmas eve." She began, not once looking up at her friends as she opened her locker. "Usually I decorate the dining rooms, but since I can't do that this year because of the snow, I was thinking that we could put the decorations to good use in the lab."

Raising a brow, all three of her friends took a look into her locker and found several paper decorations and plastic bulbs lining the inside of the girl's locker. Every square inch of the metal space was covered by a colorful shape and not a single decoration was the same. With looks that ranged from amazement, humor, and annoyance, the three friends watched as Honey Lemon carefully scooped up a handful of bulbs and quickly hand them off to whoever was close to her.

"Your locker looks like santa threw up all over it." Go-Go spoke suddenly, frowning at the glittering plastic was placed in her hands. "This stuff is never going to wash off..."

"Come on, lighten up Go-Go." Hiro piped up, opening his hands for the stack of decorations that Honey was currently holding. "This could be fun."

"Thats the spirit, Hiro!" Honey giggled, handing a slightly larger stack over to Tadashi and then taking her own stack. "This is going to be fun, Go-Go."

With a roll of her dark eyes, the Asian female began to treck back towards the lab, followed by her friends who were now happily buzzing with talk of the holidays and what their next move would be. Upon arriving, the group watched as Wasabi jumped up from his chair and quickly went to assist his friends with whatever they needed help with.

"We need all of these decorations hung about the room." Honey instructed, dumping off of her stack onto the nearby table and watching as the others soon did the same.

"I think we can manage that." Hiro smirked, picking up a piece of mistletoe that had somehow gotten into the pile of decorations and then turning to his brother. "Hey, help me up so I can hang this."

The two brother's smirked as the older of the two picked up his little brother and held him up high enough that he could hang the plant over head above the doorway. Once that was done, the little brother kissed his older brother's cheek to keep with tradition and then was lowered back to the ground. Wasabi wrinkled his nose suddenly at the act, picking up his own paper angel and then going to hand it on some blank wall in the room.

"My nana never lets us hang that in her home." He said as he hung the angel up, taking it down only once to adjust it. "She thinks that whole thing is impure- that or its because the leaves make a mess of her carpet... One of the two."

"Oh? Then how does your grandma celebrate the holidays?" Honey asked, clearly interested in what the other would have to say.

"Well, usually she has all of her grandchildren over, and we have a nice family dinner together and we go around the table talking about things that we think we could improve with the coming New Year." Wasabi smiled softly as he spoke, idly returning to the table for more decorations. "And then after we all drive around the neighborhood and look at all of the Christmas lights that people have put up."

Honey Lemon smiled widely, taking a moment to imagine the scene before slowly making her way over to the table to pick up her own stack and hang them. She mainly grabbed the pink and yellow bells, placing them whereever she thought they would look nice before making her way over to Wasabi and placing a bell next to the first angel that he had hung.

"That sounds like fun! I bet we could do that here too." The blonde giggled, pulling her friend in for a quick hug before going back for more decorations.

"Except without his nana and without food." Go-Go reminded her gruffly, already decorating her own side of the room with decorations that had been cut out to resemble the ghosts from A Christmas Carol, along with a few skulls that were left over from Halloween.

"Maybe not." Wasabi said suddenly, smiling a little wider as he quickly left the room, shooting a passing glare at the plant above the doorway and disappearing out into the hall, only to reappear for a quick moment. "Also, forgive me but I'm going to have to go through our stuff."

Puzzled, the gang went back to decorating as they waited for him to return. During that, Fred began to stirr a little, only to fall back asleep when Honey placed a paper star onto his forehead and then went on to take a quick selfie with him. The Hamada brother's cracked up a little in amusement, but then went back to decorating their own side of the room until all of the decorations had their own place on the walls.

"Well, I think that looks pretty nice." Hiro commented, doing a quick 360 spin around the room to get a better look. "Except for Scrooge's side over there."

"Hey, shut it, Brat." Go-Go snapped, looking over at her decorations and frowning softly. "Its not my fault that stupid book exist."

"You did hang them up though." Hiro noted, pushing the girl's buttons further.

Sensing the growing tension between the two, Tadashi stepped forward and placed a hand on Hiro's shoulder and shook it a little in a silent attempt to tell his little brother to lay off. Though, knowing his little brother, he knew that Hiro would do no such thing and he was quick to switch to plan B.

"Hey, Hiro. Isn't that the same story that made you wet the bed when you were seven?" He asked, quickly going over to inspect Go-Go's wall. "You said the Ghost of Christmas present looked like the guy from the paper towel ads."

"S-shut up! I did not!" Hiro blushed darkly, now glaring up at his older brother.

"Yes you did. Heck, you attempted to watch the movie every year after that as a 'right of passage'." The older brother smirked, watching for a moment as Go-Go's hard glare began to soften.

"Not as bad as your holiday tradition of doing a cover to EVERY Christmas song that you hear!" Hiro smirked, now turning to all of his friends. "In fact, I still have the first mix tape he tried to make of his parodies."

"Seriously? A mix tap, what is this, the 70s?" Go-Go laughed, watching as Hiro took said tape out of his pocket.

"Every year I play the tape for aunt Cass and every year she plays it for her book club." Hiro laughed hard, waving the tape around and tossing it to Go-Go so that it would be out of his brother's reach. "Man, I wish I had a tape player."

"Well, you don't." Tadashi frowned, feeling as though he had dodged a bullet.

"Wait, doesn't your robot have one?" Honey suddenly chimed in, feeling that Christmas music would be perfect for their make-shift celebration.

"Hey, thats right!" Hiro laughed, turning to Go-Go and sending her a wink.

The Asian girl smirked and pinched her arm, letting out a soft sound of pain. Baymax took that moment to suddenly spring to life, leaving his charger station and walking over to Go-Go for the tape. Already knowing what Baymax was going to do, the girl handed the tape over and watched as the robot took it and placed it into one of the slots that seemed to fabricate out of him.

"Hiro says that this is a good tape." Baymax explained in his smooth tone as he was about to hit play, only to pause as Wasabi reentered the room wit several plastic containers in his hands.

"Where were you at?" Tadashi asked, turning his attention quickly to his friend.

"The lunch room." Wasabi replied, walking over to the table where the decorations had once been and placing the containers on the table.

"Woah! Where did you get all of that?" Hiro asked as the covers were taken off of the containers and reviled the food contents that were inside.

"Its just some things I managed to make using our lunches." Wasabi replied, pointing out what each thing was. "Turkey from mine and Go-Go's lunch, noodle soup from the Hamada brothers, Fred had KFCs in his lunch, and I managed to make an apple pie from scratch using a peanut butter sandwhich and two apples from Honey Lemon's lunch. Also I had a bottle of ginger ale in case of emergencies and the napkins are just napkins. "

The group of friends looked up at the other in pure amazement, then back down at the food in front of them. It wasn't long before the gang began to distribute the food evenly onto their little napkin 'plates'. It was also around this time that Fred began to wake up and soon joined the group for their make-shift dinner. It was during this time that Baymax hit play on the mixtape as it started off with a remix of the Carol of The Bells instrumental.

"Wait, so you played this entire song using power tools and a piece of sheet metal?" Go-Go asked, looking at Tadashi in amazement as the song played on.

"Thats wicked awesome, man." Fred gasped, shoving another piece of make-shift pie into his mouth before looking around the room. "Woah, and when did we decorate this place?"

"While you were sleeping." Honey laughed, finishing up her own food and then going for seconds. "We decided to try and celebrate the holidays here while we wait for the snow to stop."

"Huh? Well, thats cool brah." Fred said as he got up suddenly and went to where his backpack was. "But you know, it aint Christmas without presents."

"No duh, but if you haven't noticed, we're stuck at school." Go-Go pointed out, taking a swig of ginger ale to swallow down the annoyance in her tone.

"I have noticed, and since Santa isn't due to arrive for the next couple of hours than might I suggest we do a stuff exchange?" Fred asked in a mocking tone as he returned to his backpack. "You guys have a lot of cool stuff in your backpacks so we could totally do that."

"Wait, how do you know?" Hiro asked, giving Fred an untrusting look as Hoeny Lemon giggled suddenly and rushed about the room to gather up everyone's backpacks.

"I love that idea!" She laughed, handing everyone their bags as everyone half-heartedly tried to agree with her. "It'll be like a little garage sale!"

"As long as no one gives me a piece of paper, then I'm in." With everyone agreeing on that, the college students began to rummage around in their backpacks for something they could give as a present.

They figured it would be easier to set it up like a 'Secret Santa' type of thing, with one student giving to another and vise versa. The santas were chosen by Honey (Of course) and ended up being Tadashi and Honey, Fred and Go-Go, Wasabi and Hiro, and Baymax did not want to be apart of the game since he felt that it was unfair that the number of friends should be uneven. With that, they went in their order.

"Okay, Honey." Tadashi began, reaching into his backpack and taking out a hoodie. "Only because I know that you love my hoodie so much."

"Yay! Now I won't have to keep borrowing it!" Honey giggled, taking her gift before handing him hers, which ended up being a CD of their favorite band. "Because I know that you love them as much as I do."

The pair smiled over their gifts, giving each other a quick hug and a thank you before turning to watch the next group go. Since Go-Go was still looking, they jumped over to Wasabi and Hiro, with Hiro giving Wasabi a pocket-knife and Wasabi giving Hiro a hand held video game that he never used before. With a friendly bro-fist, it was now Go-Go and Fred's turns. Without a word, Go-Go shoved a purple jacket into Fred's arms and then folded her arms over her chest as she watched him look it over. At first he looked very confused, but then he smiled lovingly at the gift from his friend.

"Its only because I don't wear it anymore." She muttered quickly to cut him off from thanking her.

Nodding, Fred reached into his pocket and pulled something out, shoving it into Go-Go's hand in a similar fashion that she had. With a confused glare, the girl took and looked down at what had been handed to her and gasped when she saw what it was. In her hands, she now held a black chained necklace with a heart shaped pendent on the end. It was plastic, with the inside stained a deep read color by whatever the liquid was that was floating inside of it. Bringing it to her nose, she found that the heart was filled with an apple scented perfume.

"Why was this in your backpack?" She asked after a moment, trying to sound annoyed with the gift even though she did love it already.

"I bought it for your birthday once." Fred said as he pulled his new purple jacket on and zipped it up. "Forgot to give it to you though, so Merry Christmas."

The girl went quiet and bowed her head, feeling all of her friend's eyes now on her as she quickly brought up her hand to wipe the blurriness away from them. Frowning, it was Honey Lemon who went first to her friend to ask what was wrong, wrapping her thin arms around the other's shoulders. Soon the other's did the same as they waited for Go-Go to speak up. Finally she did.

"I don't have a family like the rest of you guys..." She admitted after a long while. "This is my first real Christmas actually."

The group seemed both surprised at the same time that they weren't and as she went silent again, the group tightened their hug just a little bit more. After a few more seconds of silence, the hug finally got less tight before breaking apart all together. To everyone's surprise, it was Baymax who stepped forward and spoke first.

"Incorrect." He said suddenly, going over to Go-Go. "As I understand, a family is a unit of people who share a special bond and loyalty to one another. Is that not what the six of you have?"

"Baymax is right! We are a little family in that case!" Honey smiled, suddenly scooping everyone back up into the group hug. "What a great Christmas you guys! Spending it with each other an-"

"Hey guys, it stopped snowing!" Hiro suddenly called from the window, having escaped from the group hug.

"Well then..." Honey frowned as she ended the group hug again.

"... I guess we can all leave then-" Wasabi muttered, looking out at the clearing sky and frowning.

"I kind of don't want to though..." Hiro added, slowly shuffling back over to the group. "It wouldn't hurt to stay for a few more hours right?"

"I suppose not." With a shared smile, the group turned away from the window and returned back to their little party.

"Merry Christmas, you guys."


	7. Reporting Dead from Limbo

**A/N: Yes, it was very sad that Tadashi died, and while a lot of people are focusing on the pain Hiro is going through, I wanted to focus on a bit of satire with the brother of the year himself and his adventures in the afterlife. **

**Plot: Welcome to Shadow Hill Academy! A university for those who want to further their education... Even after they're gone... Tadashi Hamada is a new student to this Academy, now having a new roommate to deal with as well as figuring a few things out at his new school.**

**P.S: This was supposed to be an actual story but since it wasn't very popular, I decided to change it into a drabble. **

* * *

><p>The tapping of finger nails on a desk was just as irritating as nails on the chalk board. At least, that's how the young man felt as his eyes darted about the stark white office that he was currently sitting in. Though, its not like he had any real reason to be nervous, but as he looked up at the stern-faced, dark-haired, older woman sitting before him, he felt his heart rise up into his throat.<p>

This woman was the head mistress of the very college he was currently applying for. Her face looked like a weathered rock would; cold with heavy shadows down her chiseled nose, cemented lips, and her eroded eye sockets. Her eyes themselves were quite vibrant, with a shade of teal in them that seemed to glow through the shadows, giving off a sense that they had once been apart of a face far more beautiful than the one they were currently stuck on. Despite all of this, the headmistress still carried an air of dignity and grace that was present in the way she sat and the way she tapped her long nails against the table in silent thought.

The student in thought was Tadashi Hamada, a very nervous young man of very little words... Or so he appeared to be at this moment, as he hadn't spoke a word since entering the office. Not that anyone could really blame him, as most who apply to a new school have to go through a painful interview, which with a woman such as the headmistress may as well have been a police interrogation, where anything you said could and would be held against you later on. That later time was quickly approaching, as she quickly decided that this silence had gone on long enough and the woman's fingers stilled.

"Well, Mr. Hamada... According to your application, your cause of death was... A fire..." She spoke slowly, her eyebrows raising in time with her voice.

"Yes ma'am." Tadashi replied, clearing his throat quickly just a few seconds to late.

"Really? According to the medical reports... It had been a falling beam." She muttered in a matter-of-fact way, but not in a disproving tone.

"I did not know that, ma'am." He replied honestly, his face going a touch pale as his eyes widened a bit in wonder.

"I didn't expect you to. Dying in such a manner can be very stressful." She spoke, her voice trailing off slowly as she folded her arms in her lap idly. "This will not affect anything though, for I've gone over your application, and I have to say that I am impressed."

Her face was beginning to soften, and that gave him a little bit of hope, though her voice suddenly drifting off was a little unsettling though. Still, he offered her a warm smile and nodded his head, not trusting his voice at the moment.

"It is a little late in the school year to be taking applications though, but I'm sure we can make an exception." She continued, rising slowly from her desk and going over to a nearby filing cabinet and taking down a folder that was sitting on top of it.

"R-really?" He straightened up a little in his chair.

"Of course." She offered him her own warm smile and opened the folder in her hands. "Three years in at the San Fransokyo University of Technology- If I'm not mistaken, and according to this, you have a near perfect record. Those are things that we look for in our students... So with that-"

She closed the folder quickly and tossed it into his lap with a gentle 'thump' and then quickly returned to her chair and sat down. With that, she stuck out her hand in the man's direction, and he took it as expected.

"Welcome to Shadow Hill Academy, Mr. Hamada." After a firm hand shake, she took back her hand. "Your dorm assignment, as well as roommate assignment are included in that file."

"Thank you." He gave her one last smile before standing, gathering his things, and quickly taking his leave of the office.

Entering out into the hallway, the young inventor opened the file he had been given and began to scan over it for his dorm room number. It was easy to find because it stood out in bright blue ink with an underlined circle enclosing it on the sheet of stapled paper that no doubt contained his schedule and class room numbers. He was going to have to look through the rest of the packet later, because right now he needed to find his new dorm room.

**Room 47B (That is in the West wing of the academy.)**

**Roommate's Name: Phoenix Tohshow. **

Smirking at the unusual name, he briefly thought back to Fred. For some reason the name reminded him of all of the weird nicknames his old friend would give them. He began to wonder if he still did that, but he quickly found himself brought back to reality by an unknown force. Sighing heavily, he quickly closed the file and started off down the hall in the direction of the dorm rooms. Traveling down the hall, he took this time to note the scene around him.

The school itself felt very old, with a heavy afternoon sun sinking in through the slightly foggy windows, and the air that hung around and pale peach colored interior of the building was a lot thicker than the air at his old college. It wasn't a very unpleasant thing, but it was something that would require a lot of getting used to. Letting out another sigh to relieve the heaviness in his lungs, he looked up to the left of him and took note of the large trophy case that he was currently passing by. The awards held inside were new, ranging from track meets to robotics and dated to recent dates. Each award had a photo to go with it, with a team of young adults all smiling proudly at their accomplishments.

Giving them all a gentle smile in return, the young adult carried on down the hall, quietly counting the number of steps he took deeper into the school building for no other reason other than to calm himself down a little and he soon found himself in the West wing and began to search for the room labeled 47B. Like on the sheet of paper, the room instantly stood out to him. Not because it was circled with blue ink, but because of the figure that stood propped up against the door staring at him as he walked around.

"If you're looking for 47B, its here." The figure called to him, only picking up his head when the newby was within arms reach.

Upon lifting his head, it became obvious that this figure was indeed male, and was perhaps just a little bit older than Tadashi was. He had a laid back expression that would rival Fred's, but the annoyed look in his dark eyes and the deep color of his messy hair was remnant of GoGo. Even his dark blue and black hoody and jeans reminded Tadashi of GoGo for some reason, but that could have been for a number of reasons that he didn't have time to think about.

"You must be Hamada. Headmiss warned me about you." The male smirked as he kicked off of the door so he could stand up straight. "My name is Phoenix, welcome to the academy."

With that, he turned and opened the dorm room and enter in quickly, before making a hand gesture for the other to enter the room, which he promptly did and shut the door behind him. Once inside, Tadashi took a moment to scan the living area over. Shockingly enough, the living space closely resembled the one that he had once shared with his little brother, if not a little neater.

"Its nice." He smiled bitterly and looked over at his roommate, who by now had claimed the bed on the left side of the room.

"Make yourself at home. Just don't do anything that I wouldn't." Phoenix teased, reaching over to his bedside table, picking up a small, silver key, and tossing it over onto the second bed. "That's your key by the way, so don't lose it."

"Okay- And what wouldn't you do?" The older Hamada asked, walking over to his side of the room to claim his key. "We did just meet."

"Don't do anything stupid." Phoenix said sternly, sitting up quickly and folding his arms in his lap as his face suddenly became uncomfortably twisted. "Which leads me to my first question- Um, you got accepted here... So how did you... Um, you know?"

"Die?" This response caught them both off guard, but it did help to clear the awkward tension that nearly formed between them.

"Yeah... So, how did that happen?" Phoenix pressed, leaning forward onto his knees and raising an eyebrow.

This topic was a heavy one, and both young men knew it, but there was something about the atmosphere of the dorm room that just made everything seem comfortable. It was warm and soothing, reminding both of them that they were in a very safe place now, away from the pain that they had felt during their last moments on earth, and that they were now talking to another being who had gone through the same process. Still, despite this knowledge, a long silence followed Phoenix's question, and was broken only by a sudden sigh.

"It... There was a fire at my old campus..." He muttered, shaking his head slowly. "It was over quick, so I really don't remember what happened..."

"I see..." The older looking man nodded his head before leaning back a bit. "Was there anyone with you when it happened?"

"My little brother was..." Tadashi replied, thinking back to his brother's panicked face just moments before the accident and wincing at the small pang he felt in his heart. "I miss that kid..."

"I take it hes still alive?" A silent nod answered this and Phoenix returned his own nod as a reply. "I think I can relate."

"And you?" If this guy was going to be his roommate, then he wanted to get the topic of dying out of the way as quickly as possible.

"Car accident... My little sister and I were going for a drive when some jack*ss ran us off the rode..." Phoenix replied, his tone going from sad to bitter in an instance. "She went through the windshield and my neck was snapped from impact."

"Did she...?" At this, Phoenix shocked Tadashi by smiling softly at the question.

"No. She didn't. Shes probably down there with your little brother right now." Phoenix sighed suddenly and shook his head. "I still miss that little girl. Just like you with your brother."

"I'm sorry to hear that..." Tadashi muttered, sitting down on his own bed quickly and rubbing the back of his head. "You know, my parents... Died that same way..."

"You have your parents here?" Phoenix's eyes went wide as he quickly leaned over the side of his bed and pulled a cellphone off of the floor.

"Yes. I've had them here for about ten years now." His sadness suddenly turned to curiosity, as the next thing he knew, there was a phone being tossed to him.

"Why don't you give them a call, and tell them that you got here safely?" Phoenix's mood change brought a certain light to his side of the room, one that had not been present when they first entered.

"Call them?" Looking down at the keypad, he curiously studied the different buttons, trying to call back to memory a phone number that he could use.

"Just hit the one button and type in your last name." Phoenix instructed, hopping off of the bed and going over to his new roommate. "Trust me, it works."

With a growing curiosity, the younger adult nodded and carefully did as instructed, plucking out the different numbers as delicate as a surgeon would until it was all filled out. With shaking hands, he let his thumb glide over to the call button, and gently pressed down on it. The phone began to transfer the call, but he just sat there holding the phone in his hand, unsure of what to think of it at this moment. The call clicked over shortly after that, and a gentle, sweet female's voice soon reached his ears. It was a female's voice that he hadn't heard in almost ten years now.

"Hello?" Her voice is so familiar and yet it sounds so shocking that the teen nearly dropped the phone in his hand.

"M-mom?" He asked, trying to get his heart back down into his chest, as it was now hammering up in his throat like no tomorrow.

"O-oh my God..." Her voice goes soft suddenly, and he can almost visualize the tears building up in her eyes at that moment. "Tadashi?"

A tense silence follows her words, stealing what ever it was her son was about to say next, so he just sits there with a blank expression on his face, mouth slightly ajar as he fumbles around for what words to use next. Carefully, he clears his throat and shoots his roommate a quick glance, taking note as Phoenix stood suddenly and went quickly to sit at his side before finally deciding to speak.

"Yeah, mom... Its me." He coughs, feeling that same tightness in his throat from before as he spoke.

"Oh my God... H-how are you- W-when did this happe- Your brother! Is Hiro okay!?" She goes from shock to panic as she near shouts those last lines into the phone.

"Mom, mom! Hiro is fine, he didn't... You know... Hes still safe with aunt Cass." Sitting up a little straighter, he cleared his throat for the second time.

"Well, what about you!? What happened!?" She gasped, the obvious sounds of plastic being clutched by a hand being heard over the line.

"T-There was an accident... At the college I went to an-"

"Oh my God! That's horrible! How did this happen? Was anyone else hurt?" She spoke quickly now, near hyperventilating as she did.

"Professor Callaghan was... I'm not really sure how it happened." He admitted, looking up to see Phoenix's eyes go slightly wide.

"Honey..." A quick pause followed her voice, but she quickly began to speak again. "I'm coming to see you. Where are you?"

"Shadow Hill. I'm not su-" The dial tone of the suddenly dropped call cut him off, as he frowned softly at the device before gently shutting it off.

With a sigh, he turned to Phoenix and was about to hand him the phone when he stopped and noted the look of shock and pure amazement on the boy's face, his pupils dilated and his hands laying limp in his lap. Frowning, he waved a hand in front of his face and found that he went unfazed from this.

"Hey, whats up?" He asked, nudging the other's shoulder a bit and sighing in relief when Phoenix shook back to life.

"Callaghan was the professor of my little sister's dream school..." He muttered, his voice trailing off as he stood up quickly. "Ever since she was seven she wanted to meet him..."

"Y-yeah..." Tadashi sighed heavily, burying his forehead in his left hand and closing his eyes. "I just can't believe hes gone now..."

Phoenix went silent, his hands beginning to tremble suddenly as he sunk down onto the bed heavily, a million thoughts obviously assaulting his mind as he thought over the information he had been given. Looking up suddenly, he frowned at the other.

"Hes not." He said suddenly, his voice numb and yet somehow still full of wonder. "He can't be... We would know by now."

"What are you talking about?" Tadashi looked up suddenly, his eyes going wide.

"This place has almost like a roster... You know? A list of people who are here." With this, he stood up suddenly and began to pace. "I heard about the fire at that college, the head mistress told me about it since you were going to be my roommate."

"And?" The other young adult rose up just as quick and followed him as he paced.

"Hes not here, apparently... My guess was he was never in that building to begin with anyway..." Phoenix shut his eyes, searching his subconscious for anything else that he might have remembered hearing about concerning the fire, only to get pulled back into reality by Tadashi.

"The building exploded apparently, there is no way that he could have gotten out alive!" This comment made Phoenix roll his eyes slightly.

"Listen genius, I'm not going to tell you a different story than the one I heard. There was only one fatality in that school and only one body found. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it was yours." A tense pause caught Phoenix's words but he quickly regained himself and started again. "I don't know why it would make a difference though. Isn't it a good thing that he survived?"

"Hiro... He tried to stop me from going in..." He muttered, his voice now sounding dull and tired as he slowly brought his gaze up to the other. "Oh geez... Please don't tell me I died for nothing..."

Phoenix halted suddenly in his pacing, bowing his head lowly and sighing deep from within his chest. After a moment of keeping his head bowed, he let it bob back up limply, then proceeded to shuffle over to his bed and toss his long limbs over the surface of his own bed, face first. Somewhat following his example, Tadashi sat back down on his own bed and bowed his head for a moment. After a few minutes had passed, Phoenix rolled over suddenly and held out his hand.

"Hand me back my phone." He muttered, sounding a bit bummed out as the phone was handed back. "If your parents are coming over, we might as well order some food."

"You still eat in the afterlife?" Earlier feelings aside, Tadashi found this statement to be a little curious.

"Uh, yeah. Who wouldn't?" With a roll of the eyes, Phoenix rolled off of his bed and dialed in a number before placing the phone to his ear and waiting.

"How does that work?"

"Hush, I'm on the phone."

A wave of the hand send both boys into a brief fit of giggles before they both went quiet again. Phoenix sat back on his bed after this as he waited for the call to flip over. During this long wait, he reached over to his bedside table and swiped something off of it and placing it near his lips. Curiosity overcame the other, as he was about to ask Phoenix what he had eaten, only to be cut off by a habit so annoying that he thought he had escaped it when he left GoGo behind in the living world... Phoenix blew a bubble of bubble gum, and let it pop.

* * *

><p><strong>1 Hour Later:<strong>

Phoenix was, as Tadashi soon learned, a lot like Mochi. He moved in stalking, yet still graceful motions as he moved, his limbs rising and falling slowly, as if a great weight was put upon them. Their long length seemed to add to those movements, often getting in Phoenix's way whenever he tried to move, just like the cat. The look on his face reminded Tadashi of Mochi as well, always looking so tired from the look in his eyes, from what he assumed to be a good deal of thinking. All of this was figured out as Tadashi watched his roommate stalk over to the door when a knock was heard on it. Since their food had already arrived, both males quickly and silently assumed that this was the Hamada parents who were knocking. Straightening up quickly, the younger male held his breath as he waited for the door to open.

The first to be reviled was his mother, who looked just as lovely as the last time he had seen her alive. Her long hair still fell down her back, sticking up crazily in random places and yet somehow still framing her oval eyes perfectly. Tadashi never noticed it, but he now realized that his little brother got most of his traits from their mother- Realization hit him hard as he began to feel very faint from the shock of seeing his mother again. Numbly, he stood up and made his way over to her, nearly tripping over his own legs as he did so.

"M-mom?" He gasped, his pupils going wide, mirroring the woman's own as she gazed up at her son.

"T-Tadashi... Oh my God!" His mother cried as she wrapped her arms around her oldest son tightly and held him close. "I-I can't believe it..."

"I-I know mom..." Tadashi laughed awkwardly, though tears were quickly sliding down his own face as he held her.

"Y-you're actually here..." She whispered, looking up at her son in shock again as she gently brought up a hand to wipe his tears away. "Y-you're so grown up now..."

"I'm eighteen now, mom." He muttered, placing his hand over hers to make sure that she was really there.

"Ten years... I can't believe its been that long..." She gasped, laughing softly in both happiness and heartache as she wiped her own wet eyes with her free hand.

The mother and son quickly embraced once more, staying quiet until they could gather themselves enough to finally let go without fear of the other disappearing. When they did this, they smiled lovingly at each other with the last of their tears drying on their faces. It was amazing to finally see each other again, standing on their own and not in any pain. To Tadashi, it was just a relief seeing his mother again, and not having her mangled from the car crash that had taken her from him. That was until he noticed that someone was missing.

"Wheres dad... Isn't he here?" Tadashi muttered, looking straight down the hallway for a sign of him.

He didn't hear his mother's reply though, as he soon found himself going into another shock as his father now appeared at the end of the hallway, just standing there in his own shock at the sight of his oldest son. Tadashi didn't even have time to register the man's sudden movement, as he was soon down the hall and pulling his son into a tight hug.

"You actually... You're here..." He muttered, holding his son by the shoulders as he forced him back a bit so he could get a good look at him and smiling softly at what he saw. "Well... I see that you take after you mother now... Couldn't really tell when you were a kid..."

"R-really? Aunt Cass tells me otherwise." Tadashi gasped, laughing this time in happiness as he hugged the man again. "And mom..."

The two laughed awkwardly again as they hugged, soon being joined again by his mother in a tight group hug. It was a bitter-sweet reunion, as the family still felt a loss since their youngest member was not there with them, but were glad that at least one member of their family was still alive. Gently breaking the hug, Tadashi took a few steps back, searching for a new topic of conversation that did not involve his death. Turning his head, he noticed his roommate standing in the doorway with a rather far away look on his face.

"O-oh... Mom, dad, this is my new roommate. Phoenix." He introduced the male, who in turn simply nodded his head in their direction."We got pizza also, if you wanted to stay and visit."

"That sounds like a great idea." His mother smiled weakly, taking her son's hand warmly in her own. "I want to hear all about the university..."

Tadashi smiled softly, leading his parents back into the dorm room as his father gently closed the door behind them. As they entered, Tadashi stopped when he noticed Phoenix's far away stare. He was about to question his roommate, when the older man beat him to the punch and spoke first.

"When she gets here... Do you think it'll be the same..." Phoenix muttered, gesturing to Tadashi's parents as they hurried into the room, ready to hear all about their son's life.

"She? You mean your sister?" Tadashi frowned as a nod answered his question.

"Yeah..." Phoenix sighed, watching the Hamada parents a little longer before turning back to Tadashi.

"Well... I like to think that it will be. You seem to care for her a lot." Phoenix smiled softly at that response and began to nod.

"Yeah, I do... Like with you and your bro." He began to laugh suddenly, shoving his roommate a little bit as he did so. "Come on, lets here about you being a show off now."

"Hey, graduating high school at the top of my class and inventing a robotic nurse is now showing off." Tadashi laughed, hearing his parents gasp in surprise from the other side of the room.

With another laugh from both boys, they traveled further into the room as Tadashi began to relate everything that had happened to him in the past ten years... Well, almost everything...


End file.
